Palace Clothing

The Coolest Clothing Brand You've Never Heard Of

In the 20 years since its inception, Supreme, a downtown Manhattan boutique known for its minimalistic sensibilities, has risen from a well-respected skateboard shop to one of streetwear’s greatest icons. You’ve probably seen its logo, “Supreme,” written in white Futura Bold Italic and set in the middle red rectangle. So strong is its brand power that devotees brave lengthy lines to buy each new collection it releases. And if they don’t, they likely search for the gear online or purchase it from a legally gray reseller, like the one profiled by no less a publication than the New Yorker a couple of months ago.

But, while we haven’t quite reached peak Supreme, other brands have begun to mimic its strategy, releasing limited runs of gear invariably sought after by the streetwear elite, the so-called hypebeasts intent on draping themselves in the next cool name and logo. Among the lines that have captured their collective interest is Palace, a London-based skateboard company.

Palace’s roots in skateboarding shouldn’t come as a surprise. It sprang from a series of satirical skate videos its founder, Lev Tanju, began posting a few years ago, while its name owes to the decidedly un-palatial London dwellings he and his friends call home. But, unlike Supreme, whose mainstream popularity has polarized skaters, Palace has maintained its street cred in spite of the rising demand for its gear — a collection of T-shirts, hats and hoodies with graphics nodding toward upscale fashion houses, '90s culture and the occult, which fetch well above retail on eBay.

Part of the draw lies in who actually wears the clothes. Palace arguably penetrated the mainstream in the summer of 2012, when Rihanna was photographed wearing a T-shirt graphic aping Versace’s iconic lion head. (The T is going for $130 on your favorite auction site, if you’re interested.) But the collection’s British flair has a lot to do with its popularity, too. While Supreme has long collaborated with brands like The North Face and Timberland, Palace has gone in a more English direction, producing, for instance, a soccer jersey with Umbro. It also added its '90s-inspired stamp to two classic pairs of Reebok trainers last year.

So has Palace supplanted Supreme among streetwear’s tastemakers? Judging by the hype that still surrounds the store, hardly. But the brand that, from the outside, anyway, almost seemed to appear by accident is a contender. And if you’re looking for clothes even the most hardened hypebeast will still call cool, Palace is a safe bet — that is, if you can find it.